KENT COUNTY, MI – After a Jewish inmate sued the Kent County Correctional Facility for refusing to serve kosher meals, a Muslim inmate now complains that the jail failed to accommodate his diet requests – or need to fast at Ramadan.

Both inmates have filed federal lawsuits in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids.

Bradley Keith Sleighter, 54, filed suit after the jail refused to serve kosher meals. He said he has lost 30 pounds since he was jailed in mid-January for first-degree retail fraud.

Saabir Abdullah, 38, cited Sleighter’s case in filing his own.

Bradley SleighterFile photo

He said the jail refused to provide a “no-meat diet” upon his arrival in April. On July 20, the start of Ramadan, which requires fasting during the day, he asked for a special diet as well as a “bag lunch to accommodate my fasting for Ramadan.”

Abdullah wrote: “I am being discriminated against because...there was a (Seventh-Day Adventist) who received a no-meat diet.”